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Yachting & Tax

The recent clarifications of The Maritime Transport DepartmentThe General Direction of Maritime and internal waterways transport of the Transport and Infrastructures Ministry has recently published an explanatory note containing clarification on the formalities of arrival and departure to be presented to Harbourmasters by yachts and chartered yachts, flying the Italian flag or community or extra community flags

Ezio Vannucci

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described above) involves arrival formalities at the first port of call; the issue by Maritime Authorities of authorisation to sail for a year and the carrying out of ordinary arrival and departure procedures when the vessel leaves the last Italian port for a foreign destination.4 – excluded from the simplified procedures indicated above are all Yacht and/or vessels registered as Passengers Vessel or Passengers Ship «authorised to transport more than 12 passengers, and any other vessel engaged in the transport of passengers with transport and/or travel contracts (also with the issue of tickets).For completeness it must be pointed out that the above simplifications concerning the communication of arrival and departure to the competent Maritime Authorities are not extended to other measures concerning health, taxation (for example currency communication of the so-called “cash on board”), customs matters (such as the presentation of arrival and departure manifests under articles 105 et seq of the Customs Law) and police matters (immigration procedures for crew members and guests of extra European nationality); � F© all RIGHTS RESERVED

purposes and registered in their national registries as Commercial Yacht or Commercial Vessel or Yacht in Commercial use, must carry out the arrival formalities at the first port of arrival in Italian territory as laid down by the above-mentioned article 179 of the Navigation Code, but will not need to carry out any further arrival and departure formalities in Italian ports visited later, except for the last Italian port from which they will depart for a foreign port, where the Yacht is obliged to carry out the arrival and departure formalities according to the ordinary procedures.

Clarifications Following several reports from operators in the yachting sector concerning the varying application by peripheral offices of the arrival and departure procedures illustrated above, the General Direction for Maritime Transport confirmed with a recent Note of 30 August 2013 n. 14646, that the following Yacht are exempt from the obligations concerning the carrying out of arrival and departure formalities:1 – All Yacht engaged in pleasure cruising, that is “pure” yachting, be they: national, community or extra community flag; 2 – Yachts: national or community flag, used for commercial purposes; 3 – also allowed to use a simplified procedure are Yachts flying extra community flags, whose nature as «commercial Yachts can be deduced from documentation on board and which do not transport more than 12 passengers. This procedure (as

purposes, but with tourist and pleasure aims, and these in effect constitute a type of vessel that cannot be treated rigidly according to the judicial regime laid down in the above-mentioned article 179 of the Navigation Code; in particular Note n°7776 of 18.05.2010, with the further aim of reducing the times of «administrative communication between user and Maritime Public Administration, introduced the following rules for the formalities of arrival and departure:Yacht used for “pure” pleasure cruising (for sporting or recreational purposes without any profit-making and/or commercial aims), whether they fly the Italian flag, a community or extra community flag, are exempt from the arrival and departure formalities with the competent offices of the Harbourmaster in any Italian harbour or port. For completeness, it is specified that for Yacht flying an extra community flag the formalities concerning the “declaration of arrival” to be followed in the first Italian port visited remain compulsory;• Yacht flying an Italian and/or community flag, used for commercial purposes and more precisely as concerns foreign community vessels which in their national registers are do nominated as Commercial Yacht or Commercial Vessel or Yacht in Commercial use, are exempt from the arrival and departure formalities with the competent offices of the Harbourmaster in all Italian ports or harbours; • Yachts flying an extra community flag, used exclusively for commercial

Under articles 179 et seq of the Navigation Code (R.D. 30 March

1942, n. 327), when the vessel arrives in port the captain must communicate to the Maritime Authorities of the port the name, type, nationality and tonnage of the vessel, the name of the owner, the number and nationality of crew members, the number of passengers, a brief description of the voyage, the date and time of arrival and the date and time expected for the departure of the vessel, the port from which it arrived and the intended destination, the position of the vessel in the port, and other elements required under other legal or regulatory measures.

Article 59Article 59 of the Marine Code (Dlgs 18 July, 2005, n. 171 ), lays down that yachts registered in the national registries Article 59 of the Marine Code (Dlgs 18 July, 2005, n. 171 ), lays down that yachts registered in the national registries are exempt from the obligation to present information to the maritime authorities upon arrival in port, and from the obligation to provide information on departure from the port. At the same time it must be noted that these yachts may be used not just for sporting and/or recreational purposes, but also for commercial purposes as indicated in article 2 of the Marine Code. The General Direction of transport already with Note n°7776 of 18.05.2010 adopted simplification procedures aimed at the administrative handling of particular kinds of vessels that by their peculiar nature are used exclusively for commercial

Partner in the Moores Rowland Associati consultancyWith offices in Viareggio and MilanMember Firm of Kreston International, an international organisation of independent professional studios present in 92 countries e.vannucci@mooresrowland.it

The author

NT_2013_006_INT@082-083.indd 83 17/10/13 11.59